Course Content

Introduction to Nanoworld
• The Fundamental Science of Electrons,
Atoms and Molecules

• Does Size Matter?

• Bonding and Surface phenomena –

Forces between particles and surfaces.
Course Content
How to see a nanostructure?
• How do we see at macro and micro scale
• Seeing at nanoscale
• Introduction of Transmission Electron
Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM), Molecular Beam
Epitaxy (MBE)
• Tools to see at nanoscale – Scanning
Probe Microscopy (STM and AFM) and
associated science & technology
Course Content
How to fabricate a nanostructure?
• Fabrication at micro scale – CMOS
Technology

• Nanolithography

• Self Assembly

• Glimpses of Nano-world through possible

applications, Carbon Nanostructures
Course Content
Applications
• Carbon and its properties
• C60 and Fullerene
• Carbon Nanotube (CNT)
• Nano well, wires and dots
• Other glimpses of Nano-world

Implications
• Possible threats
• Societal concerns
Course Grading
Course grade will be assessed based
upon the relative class performance to be
seen through
• three tests/exams (25-25-50);
• end-sem exam will cover the complete
syllabus)
Term paper may be opted out in lieu of
one of the in-sem exams [name
submission by 28 Jan 2011]
Resource
Books available in Resource Centre (we
have a very good collection of text and
reference books on Nanotechnology)
Online materials may also be referred to
Recommended Books
1. Understanding Nanotechnology: From the Editors
of Scientific American; Warner Books
2. Introduction to Nanotechnology by Charles P.
Poole Jr. & Frank J. Owens; Wiley
3. Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of
Molecules by Philip Ball; Oxford Univ Press
4. Designing the Molecular World by Philip Ball;
Princeton Science Library
5. The Chemistry of Nanostructured Materials by
Peidong Young (editor); World Scientific
6. Made to Measure by Philip Ball; Princeton Univ
Press
7. Physical Properties of Carbon Nanotubes by R.
Saito, G. Dresslhaus & M. S. Dresslhaus; Imperial
College Press
8. Nanocosm by W. I. Atkinson; American
Management Committee
9. Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next
Big Idea by Mark Ratner & Daniel Ratner; Pearson
Education
10.The Self-Made Tapestry by Philip Ball; Oxford
Univ Press
11. Structure and Bonding by Jack Barrett; Wiley
12. Quantum Dot Heterostructure by Bimberg,
Grundmann & Ledentsov; Wiley
General Reading
• Drexler, K. Eric, “Engines of Creation: The Coming
Era of Nanotechnology”;1987. Doubleday; New York.
• Drexler, K. Eric and Peterson, Chris, “Unbounding
the Future: The Nanotechnolgy Revolution”; 1991.
William and Morrow Company Inc; New York.
• Crandall, B. C. and Lewis, James (Eds.),
“Nanotechnology: Research and Perspectives”; 1992.
MIT Press.
 Surface becomes
important
Materials interact with their environments
through surfaces and interfaces.

A surface is a stable platform from which

reactions can be studied or controlled.
Atoms on surface are
generally more
reactive than those at
its meat.
Many properties of materials are
determined by the nature of their surfaces –
whether they are
Rough or smooth
Inert or reactive Surface …
Sticky or repellent
Interface …
Interaction …
Whenever two materials are brought
together, we must expect the unexpected.
Example:
Painting a wall
Applying a band-aid
Fabricating a transistor
Study of the behaviour of surfaces!!!
CHALLENGE
Will it tarnish? Will it stick? Will it explode?
 Expect the Unexpected
• Silver acquires antimicrobial properties
• Gold melts at temp several hundred
degree lower
• Copper becomes insulator in presence of
magnetic field
• Carbon attains much more strength than
steel and starts conducting
 Expect the Unexpected
• metallic rubber – it flexes, stretches but
also conducts
• flexible ceramics
• solar cells in form of paint
• improved torsion and flex resistant
tennis rackets
Dilemma of Paradigm
 Dilemma of
Paradigm

Your meter scale

must be converted
into “nm” scale.
 Dilemma of
Paradigm
Storekeeper of a
manufacturing
plant should be in a
position to issuing
an indent in terms
of atoms and
molecules only.
Some facts
Stoichiometry
Dalton (existence of atoms)
Einstein’s doctoral thesis
Feynman’s Caltech talk
Gordon Moore’s talk
Transistor (Bardeen, Brattain 1956 (Nobel Prize)
and Shockley )
STM
Era of microtechnology
GMR (Fert and Grünberg)
Intel’s 3 GHz Core2 Extreme
quad-core processor
1792
1800
1905 (measuring size of
a sugar molecule;
radius ~ 1 nm)
Dec 1959
1965
1986 (Nobel Prize)
1960-2000
2007 (Nobel Prize)
2008 (820 million
transistors; 45 nm
Milestones of Nanotechnology
Einstein’s doctoral thesis
Feynman’s Caltech talk
Norio Taniguchi
STM
Don Eigler
Eric Drexler
Bill Clinton
C60 – Fullerene (Curl Jr.,
Kroto and Smalley)
GMR (Fert and Grünberg)
Intel’s 3 GHz Core2 Extreme
quad-core processor
1905 (sugar molecule
radius ~ 1 nm)
Dec 1959
1982 (‘nano’ term used)
1986 (Nobel Prize)
1989 (IBM logo)
1992 (concept of
nanomechanical
devices)
2000 (NNI)
1996 (Nobel Prize)
2007 (Nobel Prize)
2008 (820 million
transistors; 45 nm tech)
In 1 sec light travels 300000 km, in a
nanosecond it travels only 30 cm (~ 1 ft).

Height of a typical adult is a little bit less than

2 billion nm.
By the way ...
The prefix nano comes
from the ancient Greek
word for dwarf.

In science and technology it indicates

the dimension of one billionth (as the
prefix “kilo” indicates one thousand).
It is expressed as 10-9 metres and shortened to nm.
nm

The radius of one atom of gold is 0.14 nm.

Half a nanometre is the linear

dimension of a small molecule
like methane (CH4).

One human hair is around 100 thousand times

bigger.
0.5 nm
 Understanding Definition
At least one dimension ~ 1 – 100 nm
• Size of a sugar molecule ~ 1 nm
• 10 hydrogen atoms laid side by side ~ 1 nm
• 1 bacterium ~ 103 nm = 1 m
• 1 pinhead ~ 106 nm

Nanoworld is the ultimate building block of matter.

Sets a hard limit to shrinkage.
Nanotechnology is the principle of
atom manipulation atom by atom,
through control of the structure of
matter at the molecular level. It entails
the ability to build molecular systems
with atom-by-atom precision, yielding
a variety of nanomachines.

Eric Drexler
Nanotechnology is concerned with
developing the tools for characterizing
and manipulating materials on
nanoscale (1-100 nm) and exploiting
these tools for the development of new
products and processes.
Nanostructure
Based on their geometrical dimension
with reference to an external reference
system, viz., substrate.

Narrow definition: at least 2 dim are

below 100 nm

Extended definition: one dimension

below 100 nm and a second dimension
below 1 m.
Nanodevice
At least one functional component is a
nanostructure.

Nanosystem
Consists of several nanodevices that are
of importance for the functioning of the
whole system.
Take a sugar cube. Each side of
this cube is around 1.5 cm. Find
out number of molecules on each
edge of this cube.
One sugar molecule is ~ 1 nm in radius. So
the linear dimension of such molecule is 2
nm. Hence total number of sugar molecule
per edge would be 1.5 cm / 2 nm = (1.5x10-2
m) / (2x10-9m) = 7.5x106 molecules/edge.

Find out how many molecules are there in a

sugar cube?

Ans: 4.22x1020 molecules in a sugar cube.

Find out how many sugar molecules are there
per square cm of surface area of the cube?
Ans: It can be calculated by 5625x1014
molecules/2.25 cm2 which gives 2500x1014
molecules/cm2.
 To see surfaces, we need eyes.
Human eyes resolve only those what we
see.
Human eyes respond only to visible light.
A normal scientific microscope magnifies
an object 200 times more than human eye.
We see magnificent and astonishing world
…
Modern microscopes magnify a million
times
A whole world of fantasies explodes …
Atoms will look like oranges on a grocery
shop
Can we see atoms with light microscopes?
Like painting a miniature using a wallpaper
brush …
Atoms ~ 0.1 – 0.4 nm
Wavelength of light ~ 400 – 700 nm
The lower limit on the size of an object that
a microscope can resolve is ~ the
wavelength of light used to illuminate the
object.